Hi all! New here. I come from the triple locked Toyota world and am possibly making an offer on a 2005 G55 tonight. It has 116k miles on it. It appears to be in great shape. I asked the seller to send me pics of the birfields (at least that is what we call the front CVs in Toyota land solid front axles). See attached pic. They don’t look that bad. They aren’t leaking. I’m use to dealing with failed axle seals that end up mixing dif oil with the CV grease and causing a mess. They seem to be a bit dry though. Is there I grease nipple on the CVs? Let me know your thoughts.

They're a little bit dirty, but overall no signs of leaking.

That being said, they do look a little bit dry, so that may be why they're not leaking. There is no grease nipple, but there is a large plug on the side of the swivel ***** to fill the grease from. They are on the rear side of the swivel *****.

Replacing the swivel ball seals correctly is a real pain since you have to remove the axle/hub assembly. They make a split seal that you can use (I did when fixing my leak in a pinch) that is pretty simple to do from the inside, but obviously there are drawback to a split type vs a continuous round type.

Looks pretty clean underneath with minimal surface rusting (at least in these pictures).

A few things to ask about:
Check the date code on those Scorpion Zero tires as they are probably pretty old.
Check for rust spots on the body in all the usual places (under the doors, on top of the doors, around the windshield, on the lower rockers, around the tail lights.
Engine has normal leaks around the rear main seal and from the valve cover gaskets and breathers. Check for leaks on the front/rear diffs, TC, and trans.
When test driving, make sure the trans shifts smoothly, with slow partial throttle application, and pedal to the floor mode.
Check all the door locks and handles work well, as well as the windows and sunroof.

The 2005 G55k's are a ton of fun. Mine has about the same number of miles and I've had to replace the shocks, steering damper, all bushings, and all the other seals and things that fail around the 100k age mark.

Hang on when you floor it from a dig as it's a smile educing experience!

Thanks for your help! How hard is the real main seal to replace? In my land cruiser I think the tranny has to be dropped.

I haven't done mine yet as it's not leaking, but I would guess the trans will have to at least be detached, and most likely dropped.

$2300 at dealer, $1500 at Indy.

I’ve had 1 100 series and 3 200 series LXs. Now in an 11 G550 and love it. I’d say rust and water intrusion is the biggest concern on these.

As a fellow 80 owner I can share those look okay for the most part... good luck in your search. The G's are a nice step up from my 80 DD in terms of speed.... feel free to PM me if you have any questions... I'm jsut starting the build on my recently purchased G55 ... but also learned a bit from my prior G63..

Cheers.

E

Curious to hear your thoughts going from a 13+ to an earlier model… what are your observations interior wise?

it's about like the 97' moving back to a 91'..... except both are leather at least. The bones in both are the same so it's really just the shell....and the tech. which isn't a big thing to me...
The G55 is instant power..... and with the work I'm thinking of it'll be 600 at the wheels. The old 63 with just a EC E40 tune and DP's was close to 680 whp..
to me the 55 speaks to my build goals.... a 70 series ARB can be retro'ed to it with a winch unlike the 63 - a light lift gets you 33/34's and it's fully locked out of the box... and it's bulletproof ( minus doorlocks and a long list of misc things...just like our 80's .... )
I'll probably do a set of Scheeman's to have better seats in black/gey hounds tooth and maybe upgrade the stereo and do CF and call the interior good ....
Like the cruiser you can do some storage on the wheelwells ( i'll be waterjetting some designs soon) and Gullwings are avail...

Happy to chat if you want more ..... Goal is really the variable...

cheers

E